Craig Bird and Laidler re-sign

[Ampersand]

Not to mention he had a restricted preseason due to ankle surgery. It makes sense that they would be very cautious. The fact of the matter is that Matt80 is trying to manufacture a case that Tom a Mitchell is out of favour with Longmire. As we've seen Horse is loathe to change a winning team unless forced to by injury. Unfortunately, when spots did open up, Tom was not available due to injury or inadequate reserve time. Those are the facts according to both reality and unambiguous statements from Longmire himself.

[Mel_C]

I didn't realise we initially only signed Laidler for 1 year. He has improved so much compared to the first couple of games so I am happy we have signed him up.

[CureTheSane]

I reckon Laidler would be pretty happy about that as well

[tasmania60]

Great news ,no one wants to leave all happy ,and know whats coming?

[Matt80]

Not to mention he had a restricted preseason due to ankle surgery. It makes sense that they would be very cautious. The fact of the matter is that Matt80 is trying to manufacture a case that Tom a Mitchell is out of favour with Longmire. As we've seen Horse is loathe to change a winning team unless forced to by injury. Unfortunately, when spots did open up, Tom was not available due to injury or inadequate reserve time. Those are the facts according to both reality and unambiguous statements from Longmire himself.

I'm not trying to manufacture a case that Tom Mitchell is out of favour with Longmire. I have no doubt that if one of Kennedy, Bird or Parker are injured or rested after the Port game then Tom Mitchell would be straight back into the starting 21, as long as his form and fitness are in good order.

Tom would come into the system and play a great role as part of the three slower inside midfielder paced system. He would feed great handballs out to the likes of Jetta and McGlynn, win plenty of contested ball and deliver 6-10 tackles.

[Reggi]

I don't know where this myth comes from that Mitchell is slow. Certainly not the opinion of his coach.

Longmire put any question on Mitchell leaving to bed yesterday

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Oh great. The Mitchell being traded crap has plagued another thread.

I'll mark it as "Avoid".

[Doctor J.]

Oh great. The Mitchell being traded crap has plagued another thread.

I'll mark it as "Avoid".

Like most threads on RWO these days.

[Matt80]

Oh great. The Mitchell being traded crap has plagued another thread.

I'll mark it as "Avoid".

Threads have got to be more than "Great work Craig".

I have a view that the Craig Bird signing will affect another players potential place in the Swans senior team and expressed that view in detail.

[ernie koala]

Mods, yet another Matt80 hijacking is taking place here.

Do I have to 'ignore' every thread he enters with his repetitive crap?

[ShockOfHair]

Bird hasn't resigned. Hyphens still matter.

Sadly it looks like the Hyphen's time is up.

[RogueSwan]

Threads have got to be more than "Great work Craig"...

No, they don't. If that is what RWO'ers want to say, and it within the forum rules, so be it.

Back OT, I am very happy that Bird has re-signed. He has a great, FAST, inside game. I also view him has as having a pretty good kick. I am not concerned when Craig has the ball in his hands.

[Go Swannies]

I expect that the Swans coaching staff and most of the fans would have heaved a sigh of relief when Bird agreed to re-sign. That just leaves one of our most influential players unsigned and I hope Mal's leaving is just more Victorian make believe. Both would be in the top 10 selected each week.

Laidler came cheap with no real expectations but he's certainly played up to the standard required by one of the best teams in the competition so it's great that he's staying.

Outside the topic of the thread, the Mitchell furphy was completely put to rest by Horse.
"Is Mitchell leaving?"
"He's a contracted player so no."
"But he doesn't get many games."
"He has been injured and has had restricted training - you need to be able to train to play. When he's trained we expect him to be an important Swans player."

Of course, the unasked question was: "does he have electric pace?"
I'd guess the answer might be: "he gets heaps of the ball and his disposals travel faster than a player can run so yes."
(That'd be the answer of a coach who, elsewhere, seems happy that Lewis Jetta is now down to 110 Volts but has very effective disposal - preferring that over the earlier Jets who ran like the wind and kicked behinds.)

[O'Reilly Boy]

Is Matt80 the Ryan Crowley of RAWOnline? Or the Andrew Bolt? I'm loving it, Matt80. You clearly frame your opinions as your opinions, and they are always entertaining. And you are spot on, I reckon, about pace and tackling as the key performance indicators that matter.

[jono2707]

Birdy and Mitchell both have plenty of pace - doesn't all have to be in the legs......